


Go Go Boots

by Sariau



Series: Retro [1]
Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Aged-up Shindou Hikaru, Crossdressing Shindou Hikaru, M/M, Not as cracky as you think, Random HikaGo Event 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sariau/pseuds/Sariau
Summary: Hikaru had almost finished his higher education when he comes across Sai's goban. Life ensues.
Relationships: Ogata Seiji/Shindou Hikaru
Series: Retro [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821322
Comments: 34
Kudos: 177
Collections: Random Hikago Event





	1. Nigiri

**Author's Note:**

  * For [esama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/gifts).



> I wrote this a couple years ago for Esama's Random HikaGo Event on tumblr, and I have no idea why I hadn't put this up on Ao3 before. Oh well, off you go to shameless cross-dressing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A procedure common in Japan at the beginning of an even game to decide who will play the black stones.

There was a lump that was shifting on the bed. There was also a phone, ringing from where it was charging on the table next to the bed. The lump moved some more, and an arm reached out from beneath the covers to the source of the noise. The hand flipped the phone open, and pulled it back under the covers. “Hello?” A groggy and sleep-addled voice grumbled.

_“Hikaru? What time are you stopping by to pick up your stuff?”_ A smaller voice, limited by the speaker of the cellphone, asked.

There was a yawn. “Gramps, practice ran late last night. I’m exhausted, and I’m certainly not going to be out of bed before eleven.” Came Hikaru’s response. But he already sounded more awake than when he answered the call.

Gramps seemed to notice as well, judging by the chortle coming from the speaker. _“I’ll have breakfast waiting for you, and I’ll even save you some of your grandmother’s treats if you hurry.”_

That was enough motivation for Hikaru to fling his bedspread off of him, and rushed for the shower, not even noticing that Gramps had laughed at the ruckus he caused before hanging up.

* * *

Hikaru jumped out of the driver’s seat of his car as soon as the key was out of the ignition, and sped to where he could see Gran waiting for him on the front porch with a tray full of deliciousness.

“Hikaru!” She said, concerned as she almost always did when he swiped the tray from her hands and enjoyed his breakfast and red bean mochi. “What are you wearing?”

He quickly glanced down at his overalls, cropped short to show off his legs and the brown t-shirt he was wearing underneath. It looked cute, and able to handle the work he was going to do later, so it was fine, right? He didn’t mess up on matching his colors again, did he? How embarrassing. “It’s a mess! Did you even try to iron them? Or wash them before you wore them last?” She started to herd him inside to the room he had stayed at when he couldn’t afford a place to stay. He still hadn’t completely moved out, having left a few of his clothes that Gran was encouraging him to change into so she could “wash them in the next load.”

He obliged easily, the mochi was sticky in his mouth, and the taste was something he equated to safety and home in his mind.

So he stepped outside with his hair finally dry from his shower earlier, up in a messy bun, and out of the way, he was wearing pants that were a little too tight and a shirt that was much too large for him with something written in English on the front. He had stopped by the kitchen for a second helping of coffee, and held the mug in one hand as he slipped on his shoes to make way for the shed.

It looked like Gramps had already unlocked the door, which was handy, since he didn’t want to go searching through the entire mansion of a house just for a stupid key.

The hinges of the door protested loudly, Hikaru had to wonder if Gramps left it at this state of disrepair as a basic alarm for burglars, and stepped inside. He sneezed at the dust that was displaced, and groaned. It was impossible for this much dust to gather in a few years, right? Even the floor had a thin layer!

Inwardly complaining to himself the whole time, he climbed up the ladder to the upper level where his boxes were taking up a majority of the floor space.

Hikaru sighed, grumbling to himself since they had been stored in one layer and all of his boxes had a good helping of dust for each of them, and picked up a few to carry down the ladder and to his car.

With tracks in the dust, and the floor of the second level mostly free of dust (because he was wearing it now), the shed looked much better. There were only three more boxes left when a lacquered box in one of the shelves caught his eye. Curious, he lifted the lid to see a goban and two matching bowls inside. He smirked fondly. Gramps collected just about anything that was related to Go. He frowned at the stain he could make out beneath the wooden bowls. It almost looked like blood, but not? He closed the lid, and added it to his remaining stack he would ferry from the shed and to his car, and headed for the house to let his grandparents know he was about to leave, and ask for Gramp’s permission to take the goban home with him.

“Hikaru!” Gran said, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Here we go again.

As it turned out, he didn’t have the chance to mention the stained goban to his grandfather with all the fuss Gran was making.


	2. Fuseki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arraying stones. this normally occurs in the first moves of a game so fuseki is often used as a synonym for opening.

“Come on, Gramps. Pick up. Pick up.” Hikaru mumbled to himself as he waited for the call to go through. He was also, _very carefully_ , **not** looking at the thing that had come out of the goban the night before.

The thing (a ghost, he was starting to call it) was wandering around, poking his face into his things and, sometimes, through the walls. His life was just starting to come together! Hikaru definitely didn’t need something like this right now. He had classes at university, and practice after that, and a social network to build if he ever wanted to make something of himself later on down the line. Nowhere in his plans did a ghost fit. Especially if said supernatural being only wanted to do one, and one thing only.

“Hikaru~!” The ghost sang as he floated through the wall that had separated them. “Let us play Go!”

Luckily, he was saved from responding when he heard his grandfather’s voice from the phone. _“Hikaru? What’s wrong? You don’t normally call so soon after visiting us.”_

Hikaru glanced back at the ghost that was now inspecting his fridge, and not bothering to use the door, like someone with mass and matter would. “Do you remember the goban you had in the shed in the upper level?”

_“Had? Does this mean you finally managed to sneak that old thing out from under my nose?”_ He blinked, one hand came up to twist at a lock of blond hair between his fingers. It took him a moment, but he remembered he had tried pawning the same goban for cash when he was in elementary school. He didn’t dare do something like that again after all the trouble he had gotten in. Man, that was a while ago. _“Either way, you’re keeping it, and you’re going to maintain it!”_

His grandfather, who had been a big name in the amateur circuit in his golden days, proceeded to tell him what he could do, and even more of what he couldn’t do with the goban. Then the old man got to explaining what products to use to clean the surface, and how it had to be different from the soap used to clean the stones. Then a lecture of not to use any of the cleaning supplies Hikaru had in his house (which, at the moment, was a partially used bar in the bathroom, and an unopened bottle of dish soap under the kitchen sink) to clean anything that came in the box. And he went on and on and on…

“Hikaru?” The ghost floated up to him with pleading eyes. Hikaru didn’t like how well they were working on him. “Can I play some Go?”

He covered the receiver with his hand. “No. Not right now. Go away.”

Gramps had somehow managed to hear him. _“Who are you talking to?”_

“The ghost that was haunting the goban.” He answered sarcastically. The ghost in question pouted like he was hurt by his words, and Hikaru couldn’t help the snort and the roll of his eyes. The ghost brightened at the reaction, and bounced around him happily, almost distracting him from what Gramps said next.

_“Now Hikaru,”_ the tone was disapproving, _“you know I won’t judge you for having a guest over. Just remember to use pro-”_

“ _Sorry!_ Emergency in the kitchen!” He interrupted, speaking fast so Gramps didn’t have a chance to get a word in edgewise. “A kappa just popped out of the sink, and is promising to grant wishes if I help him find a leprechaun with a signed basketball. _Gottagobye_!” He hung up. Nope. He was _not_ going to get into a conversation with his grandfather about… _that_ again.

Hikaru sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose, and turned to look for the ghost. He found him in the kitchen with his head poking through the bottom of the sink. “I do not see any kappa in the kitchen. What is a ‘signed basketball’, and why would it be worth wishes coming true?” He called with his head in the cabinets.

Hikaru leaned against the wall, suddenly tired, and really didn’t want to deal with this any more. “Forget about the kappa. You wanted to play Go, right? Let’s go do that.”

He only barely had the time to grab his phone, wallet and keys before the ghost was upon him. For all that the ghost was insubstantial, he succeeded in ushering him out the front door.

Hikaru walked down the crowded streets of Tokyo looking for a Go salon, the ghost floating after him with a jubilant smile. He stopped to wait at the pedestrian crossing, and passed the time watching the ghost wheel around like a tourist at his side. Casually, he mentioned, “You know, I never got your name.”

The ghost beamed at him, and it seemed to make him glow. Hikaru was suddenly jealous of how luscious the ghost’s hair was, he could only get it past his shoulder blades before it started to break off. “Fujiwara no Sai.”


	3. Honte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The proper move; a solid play that leaves few or no weaknesses behind and has a follow up.

Hikaru had been visiting Go salons for a few months when he decided to try something new. He could tell Sai enjoyed the salons, but most of the ghost’s excitement had settled to something that was approaching boredom.

Hikaru did not want to get stuck with a bored ghost.

Hence, why he was leading Sai to a Go event that fell on a day that his classes had been canceled. Not that the ghost realized what they were doing until he floated through the doors. Hikaru probably looked strange to others when he flailed about under Sai’s tackle hug.

He was pretty impressed by the children’s competition going on off to the side; he certainly hadn't been that focused or intense at that age.

Hikaru mostly stuck to the side where the professional Go players were working. Some were manning stalls with black and white merchandise. Others were playing teaching games. But what drew his attention was a booth advertising a website for playing Go. He wandered over, leaving Sai to flutter over the long table of people playing casual games in the corner.

“-and it’s international too.” He listened to the man as he tried to explain to the kid who was ignoring him for the computer screen. “See here? The user’s internet handle has a flag and some romanized letters that show which country they’re from.”

Hikaru hummed, memorized the website so he could check it out another time, and returned to see that Sai had moved on to hover over a game that a pro was playing, judging by the ribbon on the man’s suit. The pro placed a stone, and after looking over the board a few times, the other player bowed his head. “I resign. Thank you for the game.” The man hurried to leave, gathering the bags leaning against his chair before he was gone.

Before Sai could pester him, the blond moved to stand behind the vacated chair. “Do you have time to play another game?”

The pro blinked in surprise, giving him a once-over, before schooling his expression and nodding. “Sure.”

Hikaru glanced down. Oh. He probably looked like a girl with the way he was dressed. Wearing a big shirt with shining beads down the front and bunched up around his neck, ripped skinny jeans, and heeled boots didn’t help his androgynous looks. His deep voice was probably a shock to the pro in front of him.

He sat down, Sai celebrated behind him before falling silent. “Put down as many stones as you wish.” The pro said, removing his glasses to absently clean them with the handkerchief he pulled from a pocket.

Hikaru waited for him to finish before placing the stone where Sai directed. The black stone shook a little as he let go, but it was a far cry better than his first attempts with his index and thumb that had sent Sai into fits of laughter.

The pro stared at him for a moment before shifting into something that was almost a slouch. A white stone soon joined the black. And so it went.

He already knew Sai was good. The ghost had yet to lose a game, though he had embarrassedly admitted that some of them had been teaching games after Hikaru had mentioned his winning streak. Apparently, winning wasn’t the point in teaching games, and the ghost was a sore loser. He hid a quick glance at the ghost in a stretch, and was surprised by the serious angle of Sai’s head. Sai usually looked more indulgent and fond when he had been playing in the Go salons. He studied the man sitting across from him; is this the difference between amateurs and professionals?

Hikaru didn’t know where the time went. The sun was falling fast when the pro finally admitted, “I resign.”

“Thank you for the game.” He responded, having learned the proper etiquette for these things when Gramps had demanded a game one weekend. Glancing down at the clock on his phone, Hikaru decided that he would be able to grab something quick to eat before he had to run if he didn’t want to be late for practice.

The pro helped him clean the board before demanding, his glasses flashing in the light, “Again.”

“Uh,” Hikaru looked around the room. There were only a few people left, breaking down the signs and tables and generally cleaning up after the event. “I really need to go soon, sorry.”

The pro clicked his tongue, stuffing his hand into his pocket, and retrieved a wallet and pen.

* * *

Hikaru blinked at the business card in his hands. Flipping it over showed the man’s quickly scribbled times when he was free for a game for the next few weeks. He flipped it over in his hands again. “Ogata Seiji, huh?” He read aloud to himself as he waited in line to order.

Sai was floating on cloud nine, and he already knew he would call the man when he had the time for a game, if only to keep the ghost so satisfied… and to preempt him badgering him to arrange another meeting.


	4. Miai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Denotes that there are two different options such that, if one player takes one, the other player can take the other.

He was playing another game with Ogata when the man slid over a folder. Hikaru spared it a glance before placing another stone for Sai at his insistence, then picked it up to look over.

He blinked at the name printed on the forms. Forms for the pro exams. “You know,” he commented as he flipped a page, then responded to the hand Ogata had placed, “I don’t remember ever telling you my first name.”

The pro grunted. “You’re hardly subtle on NetGo, Sai.”

Hikaru pursed his lips, struggling to keep down a grin at the misdirection. He never knew it would come to something like this when Ogata had asked for a name to be paired with the number in his phone’s contact list. Then again, the pro was rather straightforward, so he should have expected something along these lines. He’d have to look up the rules for aliases at the association, just to see how far he could bring Sai’s existence into the light. He got to the last page, which was “A recommendation?”

Hikaru looked up to see if Ogata was serious, and came up short when he saw the aggravated pull of the man’s lips. “You obviously deserve it if you’re still holding back on me.” He followed the other’s gaze to the board between them.

Oh, he had been playing his turns while he was reading. Apparently splitting his attention, and was still winning against the man. Which wasn’t at all what was happening, but Hikaru didn’t know how to explain that he was being haunted by a Go obsessed ghost that had been Honinbo Shusaku before that. He might as well top it off with stating he had been using the ghost’s name for the past few weeks too.

Yeah, that would go over well…

And he wasn’t going to turn the offer down because he had been thinking about doing it anyways, so if Ogata had done most of the hard work for him, why not? Scheduling would be a beast, but he had gotten quite skilled in time management once he had acclimated to university life. He was going to graduate come spring anyways.

If the association won’t let him use Sai’s name… well, showing up under his own name and seeing Ogata’s face would be priceless.

Win-win, in his books.

* * *

Oh. This was awkward. Hikaru stood to the side of the goban and the cushions. He hadn’t really thought about where he would sit if he had the choice. He fidgeted, trying his best to ignore the snickering from those who were already seated. All of the times he had played in person, he had approached someone else to ask for a game, and sat opposite them if they agreed. He hadn’t had to choose before.

A rather pudgy man walked up to him with a questioning look, before taking the cushion that had his back facing the windows. If the game took too long, Hikaru would have the sun in his eyes. He hadn’t thought of that until he was comfortable on the cushion, and could see the barest edges of the sun through the window.

Too bad Sai wouldn’t let something like that affect him, or that the ghost would take that long once he realized what his opponent had intended.

He shared a smile with the man, and started to nigiri. “Please.” He said with a bow.

Let the games begin.

* * *

Hikaru was right. Ogata’s face when he stormed up to him in the main lobby of the Go Association made going through the application process when he couldn’t use Sai’s name more than worth it.

“What the hell, Sai?” The pro hissed once the crowd of people passed them by. “No, what the hell, Shindou?”

Hikaru blinked up at him innocently with a small smile. “Well, it wasn’t like you said I _couldn’t_ use a different name.” He shifted his weight to his other leg, and the spot of light he had been watching skipped over Ogata’s eyes thanks to the shiny buckle on the thick belt he wore over a long shirt. It was almost a dress with how it almost reached his knees; Sai had made such a happy noise when he had tried it on in the store that he had to buy it. The black and white spots was probably the reason, but the ghost had denied it. It also matched his shiny white boots that made such a satisfying noise when he walked.

Hikaru stepped around the other blond to follow the crowd out of the building, his high-heeled boots clicking on the concrete, and Ogata was quick to match his pace. “And where are you going now? It’s not like you have classes or practices anymore.” The man inquired a little harshly, but Hikaru didn’t fault him for it; he had been lying to the guy for more than half a year. And his statement was true, he had graduated a few weeks before the preliminary rounds.

“I have a job.” Hikaru turned to look back at Ogata who had stopped a few paces back.

“A job?” He croaked.

Why was that so hard to believe? Instead of saying that, Hikaru responded with, “Yeah, I signed a contract when I was accepted into university. Helped me a lot when I was starting out. Well, that and the sports scholarship I had.”

Ogata wheezed, and he couldn’t help but feel like the man was making fun of him. Sai’s laughter behind him wasn’t helping.


	5. Seki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mutual life. In its simple form, it is a sort of symbiosis where two live groups share liberties which neither of them can fill without dying.

Hikaru was kinda tempted to treat the serious man standing next to him like he treated Gramps. That stern aura around him was almost begging him to give the man some sass. The flashes from the cameras stopped, and Ogata swooped in to stand between them.

“Don’t.” The taller blond hissed. Hikaru blinked at him innocently. Ogata shot him an unimpressed glare. “And don’t give me that look. I can see it on your face. You have that expression every time you get yourself in trouble.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes, making a valiant effort to ignore the snickering ghost following after him. “Name one time-”

“Osaka.” Was Ogata’s smug retort that pulled him up short. Then he kept going. “The Heart of Stone. Ichiruka’s. That one internet cafe-”

“Okay! Fine! You’ve made your point. Shuddap!” Hikaru waved his hands about to make him stop, well aware of the reporters, and Sai’s first opponent as a professional, listening in as they waited by the entrance to the Room of Profound Darkness.

With an embarrassed flush to his cheeks, he split off from Ogata to join Touya Kouyou at the goban. Sai’s quick emotional switch came into play, and the ghost was full of sharp angles and hard eyes, as unmovable as a mountain by his side. The presence was comforting. It wrapped around him like a warm, heavy blanket on a rainy, winter night. It meant that he didn’t have to face against the formidable man alone.

The overseer, a man from the association, called for attention and explained the match’s reverse Komi rule. Hikaru didn’t need to see Sai to know there was a pinched look to his face. He bowed in time with the ghost, “Please.”

* * *

He leaned his hip against the table, one hand occupied with a mug of black coffee, the other holding Go Weekly open to the first page. And there he was, standing next to Touya Kouyou, and Sai was standing on his other side. His robes and hat were a bit cut off by the edges of the photograph, but he was mostly there, in all his Heian Era glory.

“I still can’t believe you got me to wear that thing.” He said, half awake, around the lip of his mug before taking a sip.

“The suit?” Ogata guessed from the next room. “I know you make for a very convincing woman, Hikaru, but I wasn’t about to let you ruin your career prematurely. Please realize that this is your introduction to the professional Go world, and first impressions last longer than you think.” Ogata chose that time to bustle into the dining room, plates of steaming deliciousness in his hands. The level of domesticity, already ridiculously high, was raised all the higher by the apron he was wearing over his suit. The pattern of the apron was some modgepodge of cars, printers, phones, blenders; a whole list of random, common objects of Hikaru’s technological age. Hikaru had gotten it for Sai sometime after his appearance in his life, when the ghost hadn’t recognized what any of them were, and had been unburied from wherever he had stuffed the thing, right around the time Ogata realized Hikaru had to live somewhere.

“I can cook for myself, you know. And I can wake up on my own too.” The new pro grumbled before sitting down and digging in.

Ogata hummed. “Yes, but then you would be almost late to your first placement match.”

“He knows you too well, Hikaru!” Sai called from his seated spot next to the window. There was a book thick with kifu in front of him, and an electric fan that rotated in his direction every once in a while to blow a page or two over for the ghost to read.

Hikaru very maturely stuck his tongue out at him when Ogata wasn’t looking, and proceeded to ignore the spirit. “I regret ever giving you a key to my apartment.” He stated when he caught sight of morningbird Ogata. How do people even do that?

“Then you probably would be dead from that fever a few months ago.” Ogata responded, eating his breakfast daintily.

“Gran, or Gramps, could’ve helped me.” He grumbled.

“If I remember correctly, they were in Kyoto for a memorial at the time.” Hikaru scowled. He forgot about that.

“Then I would have called Akari.” He grinned across the table at Ogata in victory. The other wouldn't have it.

“And have to bear with her cooking?” Hikaru’s face fell. Yeah, there had been a reason why he resorted to Ogata when he had fallen sick, so sick that he was stuck in the bathroom. Sai had been so worried for him, and all he could remember through the fever was Torajiro dying young -around his age- and he couldn’t say no. So he called the man, and then had to dive for the toilet, just as he heard the call connect.

Ogata had stubbornly forced his way into his apartment within three hours, carting up enough grocery bags that his fancy car must have been full to the brim, and stuck around him almost as much as Sai did. Which were brownie points in Sai’s book, and the ghost had bothered him until he handed over one of his spare keys to the man that nursed him back to health.

Ogata checked his watch. “I think we have enough time for a quick round of speed Go?”

“Blind Go.” Hikaru countered, standing up with his dishes to clean later. “I still need to shower and get dressed.”

Ogata smiled and nodded. He’d gotten what he wanted: he used his key that morning to wake Hikaru with the smell of coffee and bacon, and he was about to get the match of Go he’d woken Hikaru so early for.

* * *

Hikaru was reading over the article again that lunch. His opponent would resign sometime after the lunch break was over, if they realized the noose Sai had wrapped around their stones. The article was mostly about how Touya Meijin had lost, attributing it to the reverse Komi, and then moving on to the older man’s accomplishments. There had been a little blurb about him, there wasn’t much, but he didn’t mind.

The paper reminded him about the game itself, of how he wasn’t sure who would have won if there hadn’t been the reverse-komi. Hikaru had felt the struggle from Sai at the beginning, could see how the ghost was almost carrying a handicap as well to balance the game, before Sai’s honor overrode that and he went full-out. Sai would have lost if he had played Touya Meijin when he had first materialized from the goban, but he had played hundreds of thousands of games since then, and he had learned from every single one.

Sai didn’t like to lose. Hikaru had yet to see the ghost lose a game, and that record wasn’t about to be broken against someone else at such a disadvantage. Sai was looking forward to an official match with the man, and was willing to wait as they rose through the ranks before that happened. The ghost was a thousand years old, a few more years wouldn’t make much of a difference, Sai had explained when Hikaru offered to stop by the man’s Go salon.

Hikaru still felt strange being the barrier between the two, that Touya Meijin would never be aware of his true rival until he joined the afterlife, or even longer, depending on how long Sai stuck around.

He shook his head, and rushed to finish his lunch so he’d be back before the lunch break ended. If Ogata caught wind of him being late, the man would never let him hear the end of it.


	6. Atari

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The state of a stone or group of stones that has only one liberty.

This cinched it. Touya Meijin may be as serious as Sai when a game was being played, but he certainly wasn’t a goofball like the ghost was when away from a goban. The proof was standing politely in front of him, and Hikaru had to resist cooing at the child’s attempt at seriousness. That frown was more an adorable pout than anything else. He coughed, and hid his smile behind his hand when the boy with his paperboy haircut turned curious eyes on him. Sai had already gone ahead in his excitement, and that was fine. Hikaru was used to the ghost doing that when Go was involved.

He crouched down to be eye-level with the boy, swiping his hair over his shoulder when it got in the way. “Hey there, kiddo.” He said with a soft smile so he didn’t spook the boy. “My name’s Shindou Hikaru. What’s yours?”

The kid’s wide eyes shifted away to where he knew Ogata was standing behind him, before looking at him again. “Touya Akira.” The boy blinked those wide eyes, before saying, “You’re really pretty.” and running deeper into the house.

Hikaru smiled after the kid, and stood. “Cute kid.” He commented, and he heard Ogata scoff before the man led the way to where the other pros were.

“You’re only saying that because he complimented you.”

“Children are brutally honest." He said with a playful sniff. "I mean it though, he’s a cute kid.” Hikaru let his eyes idle on the painted shoji screens that made up the hallway they were walking through. “He’d have to be a good kid to not go through that ‘marker phase’ with these kinds of things in the house.”

Ogata hummed noncommittally, and stopped to slide open one of the doors. Hikaru peered around to see the group circled around the goban looking up. He still didn’t understand why they had to come to Touya Meijin’s house to figure out the logistics of the Go event they were going to in China. Seriously, why couldn’t they just meet at the association, or just have a conference call?

An elbow interrupted his thoughts when it dug into his side, and he shared a glare with Ogata before turning away with a sniff. He took a cushion near the wall, and watched Sai bounce about the room with his unlimited energy.

At one point, when the others were going over plane tickets, and which company to use, comparing the luxury over the costs, he cut in. “I’m buying a second seat next to mine. I haven’t been on a plane before, but I’ve seen how crowded those metal tins get.” Hikaru got some strange looks and a suspicious one from Ogata, but he didn’t elaborate.

* * *

Hikaru was very much glad he had done that, watching Sai once again as he floated through the other passengers on the plane through squinted eyes. It was an overnight flight, and Ogata had somehow managed to get the seat on his other side. The man was also demanding another game. The pounding in his temples was only getting worse from the shrill baby two rows behind him, and Ogata still smelled like cigarettes. He moved so an empty seat was between them, and leaned his head against the glass of the window.

This sucked. Why did he agree to this again? Oh yeah, he had wanted to see China. He groaned, and dug out headphones from his pocket, and shoved them in his ears to cancel some of the noise. He would listen to the music on his phone, but none of it would help the migraine he had. Hikaru considered the setting sun through the window, weighed the light he could see even with his eyes closed against the cool temperature of the glass, before forcing the screen down and leaning against it again.

He hated getting headaches.

Hikaru woke up feeling considerably better. There was also a hand in his hair. “Sai.” He mumbled into the fabric on his shoulder. “Quit it. You’re gonna mess it up.” The ghost had gotten into the habit of passing the time he was asleep by combing his fingers through his hair. Only, Sai didn’t know what he was doing, even after three years, and Hikaru ended up with worse bedhead than if the ghost had left it alone.

The hand stopped in its motion, and that was when he realized that the hand was warm and heavy on his head. Which meant it wasn’t Sai messing with his hair. He could think of only one other person who would be combing fingers through his hair.

_Shit._


	7. Yose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moves that approach fairly stable territory, typically enlarging one’s own territory while reducing the opponent’s. The typical yose occurs in the endgame, it is at times used as a synonym for endgame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the final chapter! Many thanks to those who commented!
> 
> <3<3<3<3<3

“So,” Ogata started over breakfast in an out of the way corner of the Go convention, “who’s Sai? You used their name before, when we first met.”

Hikaru tried to laugh, eyes wandering after the ghost himself as he tried to think up an answer. Might as well go with the truth. “A ghost who’s been haunting me since I got my grandfather’s goban.”

The other pro looked like he was itching for a cigarette. “Always secrets with you.” The man got to the point of the cancer stick in his mouth before he stopped. “Was Sai your teacher?”

How did the man even come to that conclusion? Hikaru’s look of shock probably meant something to Ogata when he continued. “You leave books of Go open all around your apartment, like you’ve put them down to do something else. Sai probably had long hair, and the reason behind you growing yours out too.” Not quite. Hikaru glanced back at the braid he put his hair up in; the only reason it had gotten to his waist was because of some herbal recipe Sai guided him through making to prevent his hair from breaking off. “You… Just who were they?”

The ghost seemed to sense his distress, and came floating through the crowds, sending him a worried glance over Ogata’s shoulder, having figured out that asking questions didn’t get responses in crowded areas. He smiled, and it was genuine. “A precious friend. I know I wouldn’t have gotten here without him.”

And then Ogata had to catch him from falling backwards because Sai tackled him with overwhelming joy. It felt weird feeling Sai and Ogata on his upper arm at the same time. Not a bad weird, just different. He steadied himself, looking out over the milling of people in the convention. “Come on, we’re not being paid to waste our time loitering around in corners.”

Sai perked up, jerking him too since the ghost was still stubbornly wrapped around him. “Oh, Hikaru! I saw the most wonderful thing! Magic was making a machine play Go!”

Hikaru chuckled, grabbing Ogata’s hand was automatic if he wanted to lead the man anywhere. “I think we’ll see something interesting if we just look.” It would be a nice distraction to the open-ended argument. He didn’t know how to explain his situation in terms that the other pro would believe, but he would leave it to another time.

There was still time for later.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this snippity fic. Please tell me what you liked the most in the comments!
> 
> I am apparently taking prompts for a sequel of this fic. I've got a tumblr, so come on over and send me some over [there](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sariau-write)! Or just in the comments down below, up to you.


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